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Avatar (film)
Avatar is a science fiction film written and directed by James Cameron, starring Sam Worthington, Zoë Saldaña, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez, and Sigourney Weaver. It was made by Lightstorm Entertainment and released by 20th Century Fox on December 18, 2009. The film is set in the year 2154 on Pandora, a fictional Earth-like moon in a distant planetary system. Humans are engaged in mining Pandora's reserves of a precious mineral known as unobtanium, while the Na'vi — the sapient and sentient race of humanoids indigenous to the moon — resist the colonists' expansion, which threatens the continued existence of the Na'vi and the Pandoran ecosystem. The film's title refers to the remotely controlled, genetically engineered human-Na'vi bodies used by the film's human characters to interact with the indigenous population. Plot In the year 2154, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), a paralyzed veteran is selected to participate in the Avatar Program. He receives the position as a replacement for his late identical twin brother, as Jake's brain is compatible with his brother's Avatar. Arriving from the six-year journey from Earth to Pandora, Jake meets with Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), a seasoned military man who is in charge of security. Jake is introduced to Norm Spellman (Joel David Moore), and Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver), the leader of the Avatar Program. Quaritch makes Jake his informant to gather information on the Na’vi and their Hometree, which has huge deposits of unobtanium underneath it. He wants Jake to gain their trust and convince them to leave their home within three months. Jake, Grace and Norm explore the native wildlife with Trudy Chacon (Michelle Rodriguez). While the others study the wildlife, Jake encounters a hammerhead titanotheres and a thanator. In the ensuing chase, he loses most of his equipment and weapons and is left alone in the jungle. A female Na’vi named Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) rescues him that night from several attacking viperwolves. Meeting Eytukan (Wes Studi) and Mo'at (C. C. H. Pounder), the leaders of the Omaticaya clan, Jake presents himself as a warrior "dreamwalker", with his intention to learn from them. Eytukan and Mo’at agree to teach Jake, making a reluctant Neytiri his tutor. From that day on, Jake spends his time learning the ways and culture of the Na’vi, while jumping back to his original human body to report to Parker and Quaritch on information regarding the aliens. Grace arranges the movement of the team to a remote camp after finding out about Jake's relations with Quaritch. Jake learns how to bond and control his flying mountain banshee. He and Neytiri choose each other as mates and spend a night mating at the Tree of Voices. When Jake and Neytiri awake, they encounter several bulldozers destroying the nearby forests. In his attempt to stop them, Jake destroys one of the machine’s camera arrays. Jake and Grace are suddenly sent back to their human bodies when soldiers sent by Quaritch arrive and open their link units to take them back by force. Given a chance to make a final plea to the tribe to leave their home, Jake and Grace return to their avatar forms but the Na'vi refuse to listen after Jake reveals he was sent by his superiors to convince them to move. They are bound and labelled as traitors by the Na'vi, and a large strike force led by Quaritch destroys the Hometree. The team, back in their human forms, are arrested back at Hell's Gate, along with Norm for his attempts to intervene in their arrest. Trudy rescues the group, however Grace is shot by Quaritch when he attempts to stop them from leaving the colony. Jake makes his intention to redeem himself in the eyes of the Na’vi and successfully tames and controls a great leonopteryx, an enormous flying creature related to the banshee, making him the sixth Toruk Makto in Na'vi history. The Omaticaya try to have Grace's consciousness transferred permanently into her avatar form, using the Tree of Souls, but she succumbs to her injuries during the process. Jake asks the Omaticaya to stand with him and face the humans, and announces a plan to strike back at the human forces, gathering the other clans to give aid. A huge military fleet commandeered by Quaritch begins an assault on the Tree of Souls, clashing with the Na'vi army. Tsu’tey and Trudy are killed in the battle. When all things seem bleak, the native wildlife of Pandora strikes back in force. The ground and aerial troops are scattered by the wildlife, while the shuttle carrying the explosives is destroyed before it reaches the Tree of Souls. Quaritch survives the crash of his own gunship by climbing into an AMP suit and attempts to destroy Jake’s human body by attacking his link chamber. After a brief fight, Neytiri shoots and kills him. Jake's human body almost succumbs from the poisonous air flooding the damaged link unit, but Neytiri helps him put on his exopack. At this moment, Jake says to Neytiri "I See you", the traditional Na'vi greeting. Having put an end to the military's attack, the Na'vi round up the remaining RDA personnel to be sent back to Earth, while allowing Jake, Norm and a few others to remain. Jake decides to stay in his avatar form forever, and undergoes the consciousness transfer back at the Tree of Souls. In the final shot, he opens his eyes and awakens to a new life as a Na'vi. Cast Humans *'Sam Worthington' as Jake Sully, a Marine veteran, paralyzed from the waist down that volunteers to go to Pandora as an avatar driver. There he falls in love with the Na'vi princess, Neytiri. He is the main protagonist of the film. *'Sigourney Weaver' as Dr. Grace Augustine, a xenobotanist that mentors Jake Sully and helps him in the amazing planet of Pandora. She is in charge of the Avatar Program. *'Michelle Rodriguez' as Trudy Chacon, a SecOps pilot that takes the avatar team to different parts on Pandora. *'Joel David Moore' as Norm Spellman, an anthropologist who studies plant and nature life (like Dr. Grace Augustine). *'Stephen Lang' as Miles Quaritch, the chief of security on Pandora. He has a profound disregard for Pandoran life and is the main antagonist. *'Giovanni Ribisi' as Parker Selfridge, the Administrator of the RDA who does anything for money and the second-most prominent villain, after Quaritch. *'Matt Gerald' as Lyle Wainfleet, a SecOps corporal. *'Dileep Rao' as Dr. Max Patel, the doctor of the operation that passes the human mind on an avatar. Na'vi *[[Zoe Saldana|'Zoe Saldana']] as Neytiri, the Omaticaya clan princess that Jake falls in love with. *'CCH Pounder' as Mo'at, the clan's spiritual leader and mother of Neytiri. She feels uncomfortable about the humans visiting her home planet. *'Laz Alonso' as Tsu'tey, the clan's finest warrior that was supposed to mate with Neytiri. *'Wes Studi' as Eytukan, the clan's leader and father of Neytiri. He is well-respected by his people. Production Avatar had been in development since 1994 by James Cameron, who wrote a 114-page scriptment for the film. Filming was supposed to take place after the completion of Titanic, and the film would have been released in 1999, but according to James Cameron, "technology needed to catch up" with his vision of the film. In early 2006, James Cameron developed the script, the language, and the culture of Pandora. He stated that since Avatar was successful, there will be at least two sequels. The film was first titled Project 880, and was released in traditional 2D and 3D formats, along with an IMAX 3D release in selected theaters. The film is estimated to have cost over $300 million to produce, and another estimated $200 million for the distribution and other costs, thus totaling to about half a billion dollars. Avatar was touted as a breakthrough in terms of filmmaking technology, for its development of 3D viewing and stereoscopic filmmaking with cameras that were specially designed for the film's production. Release Opening to critical acclaim, it earned an estimated $27 million on its opening day and an estimated $77,025,481 domestically its opening weekend. Worldwide, the film grossed an estimated $232,180,000 its opening weekend, the ninth largest opening-weekend gross of all time, and the largest for a non-franchise, non-sequel and original film. It was also considered to be a front-runner for awards and nominations at the 82nd Academy Awards. So far, it has been nominated to 4 Golden Globes, 2 of which it won: Best Director and Best Motion Picture (Drama). The film was rated PG-13 by the MPAA for intense epic battle sequences and warfare, sensuality, language and moderate tobacco usage. The movie utlimately grossed $2,781,132,032 worldwide (including the re-release), surpassing Titanic ''as the highest grossing film of all time, worldwide. Special Edition Re-release There was a theatrical re-release of the film in theaters on August 27, 2010, it included an extra 9 minutes of footage. It was only released in 3-D and IMAX 3-D and was only in theaters for one week. The 9 extra minutes of footage include: *A sturmbeest hunt after Jake learns to ride an ikran (Jake kills one of these creatures with his bow from atop his ikran). *A scene near the end of the film where a mortally wounded Tsu'tey assigns the clan's leadership to Jake and orders him to end his agony. Jake unwillingly does so, and recites a prayer for him. *The mating scene is extended and shows Jake and Neytiri connecting their queues and the deep meaning that this act has for the Na'vi. *The scene near the campfire is extended. Neytiri tells Jake her full name. *Grace, Norm and Jake visit Grace's abandoned school. *Another added scene is inserted after the destruction of the Tree of Voices by RDA bulldozers. The Na'vi attack the bulldozers and kill the human escorts, leaving the equipment destroyed and burning. Even the soldiers in AMP suits are killed. This scene shows Lyle Wainfleet reporting the scene of the attack to the Operations Center. The addition of this scene helped clarify the reason for the decision by Quaritch and Parker Selfridge to destroy the Hometree. *A scene is also added after Jake, Grace, Trudy and Norm arrive at the remote base Site 26 in the Hallelujah Mountains. In this scene, it is explained why the mountains float (they are rich in unobtanium, a natural superconductor that floats in the presence of magnetic fields). *There are also a few seconds added to many already-existing scenes (for example, an addition to the scene where Jake touches the fan lizard). Extended Colelcter's Edition The Extended Collector's Edition contained a further seven minutes of footage. *After months in the Na'vi part of his life, Jake starts to hate human food. This fact is in particular shown in a scene later added into the Extended Collector's Edition where Jake refuses to eat a microwave-heated burrito, a food considered by the Na'vi (in the script) as "food for larvae." Other Deleted Scenes There were a number of other scenes left unfinished at various stages in the process. In particular, the original script had a number of unused scenes, and these are listed below. *''Stingbat Attack: Jake, in his wheelchair, comes near the fence that surrounds Hells Gate, staring at a creature that resembles a stingbat, orange and has wings that appear more bat like, attacks the fence, trying to get at him, but is killed by Lyle Wainfleet. *The script had a character working in Hell's Kitchen named Hegner who lost his Avatar to a Thanator. "Hegner felt himself die, and he hasn't been right since. Added to the trauma is the loss... the loss of his other life, the one lived in his avatar body." *In the script, Trudy Chacon and Norm Spellman have a romantic relationship. Before she crashes, Trudy whispers: "Norm, I love you." Jake discovers their relationship, when, getting out of a link, finds them sharing their intimacy in Norm's bunk. *The script version of Tsu'tey's death was marginally longer, having had his queue cut off by Lyle Wainfleet. *The mating scene between Jake and Neytiri has some additional dialogue. *''The Dreamhunt'': After having captured his ikran, Jake is actually an "adult" Na'vi. The last rite is the Uniltaron, when a Na'vi will discover his "protective animal", similar to rituals in some Native American cultures. During the rite, Jake sees a toruk, the "last shadow," and is shy about sharing his vision, as the animal is considered to be a symbol of bad luck. Mo'at decrees that the vision is not clear and that Jake is not obliged to share it. *''Hunt Festival'': Another scene sees Jake and Tsu'tey, during a hunt festival, engage in a drinking contest. Tsu'tey is ready to open himself emotionally to Jake, but Neytiri interrupts them and takes Jake to dance with her, angering Tsu'tey. While Jake and Neytiri dance in the front of the fire, Tsu'tey watches them jealously. *''The Challenge'': In another scene, Tsu'tey, upon learning that Jake and Neytiri are mated for life, challenges Jake to a fight to the death. Jake accepts the challenge, and the two fight with staffs. The fight ends when Jake and Grace are returned to their human bodies by Quaritch, and Tsu'tey is stopped from killing Jake's inert avatar by Neytiri. *''You're a long way from Earth'': Prior to the Assault on the Tree of Souls, Quaritch takes over the operation, much to Selfridge's fury, who angrily berates the Colonel for "turning the mine-workers local into a freakin' militia!" and tries to stop him from proceeding with the assault. Quaritch dismisses Selfridge and prepares for the upcoming battle. *''New Life'': Neytiri was shown in this scene to be pregnant with Jake's child. Soundtrack Avatar: Music from the Motion Picture was released on December 15, 2009 by composer James Horner. A promotional 3 disc set was also released. A 5 disc set referred to as Avatar: Complete Score was announced, but the set was leaked ahead of the launch and ultimately never released commercially. Finally, there was a CD single of the song I See You, performed by Leona Lewis, which was released on December 3, 2009. Awards Empire Awards *Best Movie (Winner) *Best Actress (Zoe Saldana)(Winner) *Best Director (James Cameron) (Winner) Academy Awards *Art Direction (Winner) *Cinematography (Winner) *Directing (James Cameron) (Nominated) *Film Editing (Nominated) *Music (Score) (James Horner) (Nominated) *Best Picture (James Cameron and Jon Landau) (Nominated) *Sound Editing (Nominated) *Sound Mixing (Nominated) *Visual Effects (Winner) British Academy Awards http://www.bafta.org/awards/film/film-awards-nominations,949,BA.html, BAFTA Film Nominations *Best Cinematography (Mauro Fiore) (Nominated) *Best Director (James Cameron) (Nominated) *Best Editing (Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua, James Cameron) (Nominated) *Best Film (Nominated) *Best Music (James Horner'') (Nominated)'' *Best Production Design (Rick Carter, Robert Stromberg, Kim Sinclair) (Winner) *Best Sound (Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson, Tony Johnson, Addison Teague) (Nominated) *Best Special Visual Effects (Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham, Andrew R. Jones) (Winner) Golden Globes *Best Motion Picture: Drama (Winner) *Best Director (James Cameron) (Winner) *Best Original Score (Nominated) *Best Original Song (Nominated) Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA) *Best Picture (Nominated) *Best Director (James Cameron) (Nominated) *Best Cinematography (Winner) *Best Art Direction (Winner) *Best Editing (Winner) *Best Makeup (Nominated) *Best Visual Effects (Winner) *Best Sound (Winner) *Best Action Movie (Winner) Saturn Awards *Best Science Fiction Film (Winner) *Best Actor (Sam Worthington) (Winner) *Best Actress (Zoe Saldana) (Winner) *Best Director (James Cameron) (Winner) *Best Writing (James Cameron) (Winner) *Best Supporting Actor (Stephen Lang) (Winner) *Best Supporting Actress (Sigourney Weaver) (Winner) *Best Music (James Horner) (Winner) *Best Production Design (Winner) *Best Special Effects (Winner) New York Critics Online *Best Picture (Winner) Producers Guild Award *Best Picture (Nominated) Director's Guild Award *Best Director (James Cameron) (Nominated) Writer's Guild Award *Best Original Screenplay (James Cameron) (Nominated) DVD / Blu-ray Releases The theatrical version of the movie was released on April 22nd, 2010 on Blu-ray and DVD. This was a bare-bones release, containing nothing in the way of special features. The Avatar: Extended Collector's Edition, containing all three versions of the film and bonus content, was released on November 16th, 2010. It is a three disc set, containing behind the scenes material as well as deleted scenes. A 3D version featuring the theatrical cut was also released in late 2010. This version was exclusively bundled with Panasonic 3D TVs and Blu-ray players. A general release was planned for Q1 of 2011,http://hdguru.com/avatar-3d-blu-ray-is-coming-in-december/2369/ but the bundling period was extend by one year until early 2012.http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/news/panasonic-extend-avatar-3d-offer-201103031042.htm Albeit for copies circulating on the internet, these discs were never made available for individual sale. Instead, a limited 3D edition was released on October 16, 2012.http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=9309 Sequels On December 11, 2009, one week before Avatar was released to theaters, James Cameron hinted that he intended to make two sequels if Avatar was successful enough. There are now three sequels in development, with Avatar 2 scheduled for Summer 2018. While the film franchise was originally intended to be a trilogy, a prequel has also been announced, set 35 years before the first film. Trivia General *The font used for the film's logo is Papyrus, with a few minor adjustments. *A casting call was posted on the website of Mali Finn Casting in early December 2005 for the female lead. The casting call was erroneously reported to be for James Cameron's Battle Angel, then planned for 2011. 'Actors' *Michael Biehn was considered for the role of Colonel Quaritch. He met with James Cameron three times and saw some of the 3D footage, but in the end it simply came down to the fact that Cameron didn't want people thinking it was Aliens (1986) all over again, as Sigourney Weaver had already been cast. *Sigourney Weaver plays a "James Cameron" persona for her character in Avatar. Sigourney stated in an interview, "I teased him because to me I'm playing Jim Cameron in the movie as this kind of brilliant, approach-driven, idealistic perfectionist. But that same somebody has a great heart underneath. So I have to say I was always kind of channeling him." *The second James Cameron film that doesn't feature either Michael Biehn, Bill Paxton, Jennette Goldstein, or Arnold Schwarzennegger, the first being Piranha 2: The Spawning. 'Production' *The movie is 40% live action and 60% photo-realistic CGI. A large amount of motion capture technology was used for the CGI scenes. *Seeing the character of Gollum in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) convinced James Cameron that CGI effects had progressed enough to make Avatar (2009). *The third and final collaboration involving director Cameron and music composer James Horner prior to the latter's tragic death (the other two being 1986's Alien and 1997's Titanic). Movie *The film is rated PG-13 for intense epic battle sequences and warfare, sensuality, language and some smoking, according to commercials on air. It is James Cameron's third film to receive this rating (with Titanic and The Abyss). *Avatar was the first film to feature the new 20th Century Fox logo, which is animated by Blue Sky Studios, the makers of Ice Age (2002). *The major part of the film takes place in August 2154, 200 years after James Cameron's birth (* 16. August 1954). *President Obama watched Avatar on December 31, 2009 with his family. *''Avatar'' is the highest grossing film of all time. Taking inflation into account, it ranks 2nd, behind only Gone with the Wind *''Avatar'' is the first film to earn more than $2 billion worldwide at the box office. References External Links *Wikipedia article: Avatar (2009 film) *Official website: http://www.avatarmovie.com/ *Official YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/officialavatar *Unofficial forums: http://www.avatar-forums.com/ *Another Fansite: http://www.naviblue.com/hometree/ *Internet Movie Database: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0499549/ de:Avatar – Aufbruch nach Pandora ja:アバター (映画) es:Avatar (película) fi:Avatar (elokuva) fr:Avatar (film) it:Avatar (film 2009) nl:Avatar (film) pl:Avatar (film) ru:Аватар (фильм) Category:Avatar Category:Films